The Kitchen

Lesley's Blog
I am not a great cook, although Eric and I do manage to produce relatively  tasty meals most evenings. My mother was often ill when I was a child and found eating problematic. Nonetheless she was very committed to ensuring that we ate healthy and nourishing meals and continued to do that for herself until her death at age 92. One of the major family messages was the importance of education so being at my mother's side in the kitchen, was not the main priority. It was homework. I certainly did not feel deprived as, at that time, I had no interest in learning to cook.



(Cooking style in the Panama jungle)

 

Not only did my parents provide a role model of healthy eating, but we ate dinner together around the dining room table, which was always covered with a clean white table cloth, and enjoyed Dad's humor and mostly pleasant conversation. Although the kitchen was not the hub for our family it was a place where we developed positive habits of taking care of our bodies and with the amount of walking and, for my sister and I, school sports we participated in, we all remained slender. I am very grateful for those lessons from my childhood as it is much more difficult to develop new habits as an adult than to continue habits developed as children.

Traditionally kitchens have been places where nourishment and sustenance were prepared, so for those of us who experienced that, walking into our home kitchen can bring those associations to mind. We can heighten the meaning of that symbol by taking care to ask ourselves when we are in our kitchen, "What food do I want to take into my body that would be truly nurturing for me?". And that can be extended when we reflect on how we can nourish ourselves in other ways in our lives.



(Worth a visit!)



In these changing times of busyness and family members often going in different directions in the evenings, the role of kitchens might be changing. Food is often ordered outside the home and for some kitchens seem to have been reduced to the fridge and what can be grabbed from it to eat on the run. But the association of loving nourishment and kitchens is still strong in our minds, if not in our reality, and can help in our daily lives to remind us to focus on such healthy nourishment in all ways.



(An open air market in Chile)



Kitchens can also be thought of as places of transformation, where raw material is transformed into something different, hopefully really tasty. When we involve ourself in a growth process we look at our internal raw material and our rawness, recognize that it all has value and can be transformed into new and wonderful ways of being. As with cooking we can see this process as challenging and fun or we can see it as a chore. It is always a choice.

 



(Sharing food in South America)



And like cooking, our growth process is a very creative endeavor. It can be exciting to look at what is in the fridge, freezer and all the cupboards and drawers of both the kitchen and our psyche and develop new creations that are ever more nourishing, sustaining, and delectable for ourselves and others. 

So, when you walk into your kitchen, maybe you can develop a habit of allowing questions to arise and be held in your mind.

*What would nurture me in body, mind and soul in this moment and this day?
*Can I honor my "raw material" and how do I want to transform it so that it enriches my life and the life of others?
*How can I create and recreate my life in an ongoing process of change and rebirth?
*How do I honor total Creation so that I have love and kindness for All Beings.

So give thanks for food, for yourself and for All Beings and enjoy the nourishment, transformation and creativity that is all around us in this amazing world.